156 Provo Company RMP

About the Unit

156 Provost Company is located in Goojerat Barracks, Colchester, Essex. The Company has non-established police posts at Wattisham, Chilwell and Bassingbourn. The company provides the full range of Provost support to 16 Air Assault Brigade/Colchester Garrison and to 49 (E) Bde within the 4 Division area. The geographical area of responsibility includes 12 Counties and 12 Home Office Constabularies/Police Forces, as well as the British Transport Police, Stansted Airport and the Ministry of Defence Police. Operational support is provided primarily to 16 Air Assault Brigade.

Unit Mission

" to be a highly motivated, fit, professional unit which is full of confident, valued soldiers who are mentally and physically prepared to deploy on operations at all times.

To achieve this we must strive to reach the highest standards in everything we do, act with honesty, never give up, respect others and lead with style."

Unit History

The establishment of military police in Colchester dates back to 1937 when provost assistance was required for the 10,000 strong Garrison. However, it was not until the summer of 1950 that 156 Provost Company RMP as it is now known was established in Colchester. The Company conducted patrols in the East Anglia District Area and assisted the civilian authorities during the floods in the Canvey Island and Norfolk areas in 1952.

By the summer of 1953 156 Provost Company had established Detachments in Thetford, Norwich, Orsett and Brentford. The Company first deployed to Kenya in the late 1953 to assist with the Mau Mau terrorists

In 1960 Harwich Ports Provost Company became part of 156 Provost Company and the same year 156 and 192 Provost Companies amalgamated to become 156 (EC) Provost Company based in Colchester.

In 1962 156 Provost Company moved to its current home in Goojerat Barracks, Colchester. The Establishment of the Field Force as it is known today, came into being on the 27 Aug 1976, providing for an Operations Cell, to control the deployment of Provost in the field. This Field Force element was to consist of 2 Platoons, each consisting 32 men. At this time the first Operations officer was posted into 156 Provost Company, with 2 Platoons and a Head Quarters element on ready to deploy at short notice anywhere in the world.

Throughout the past decade 156 Provost Company RMP have regularly deployed to Operational theatres worldwide. As the last independent RMP Company members of 156 have found themselves on active service in Bosnia (OP PALATINE), Sierra Leone, Macedonia (OP HARVEST), Iraq (OP TELIC 1 and OP TELIC 3), Afghanistan (OP FINGAL), Balkans ( OP OCCULUS), Kosovo (OP CALICLE), and most recently Afghanistan (Op HERRICK) as part of 16 Air Assault Brigade. The Company maintains a high readiness capability to deploy at short notice worldwide. This capability was used in July 2006, in order to assist with the evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon (OP HIGHBROW) during the conflict with Israel.

We are grateful for a donation by SPI-Tech Ltd to support ParaData's running costs. ParaData is part of Airborne Assault (Registered Charity 1126776). It is not run for profit and any proceeds from donations or sales orders are used by the museum to support ParaData's running costs.